We are most free to be ourselves when we know we are loved. We can find evidence of that in children. They are free to be themselves. I know I was. As a kid, I sang for anybody who would listen when I was a child. I would sing in my Sunday School class, while listening to Amy Grant on my Walkman, out in public. I was never ashamed to sing when I was a child. My parents and all the people that I knew and loved told me I had a good voice and so I sang confidently.
Somewhere in life, that changed. I stopped singing in front of people. Half the people I know now probably don’t know that I’ve been in choirs, led worship, and that I like to sing. What happened? I grew up. I realized I wasn’t the best and that not everybody loved to hear me sing like I thought when I was a child. Eventually, I started to doubt my ability because I no longer had the confidence that came from being loved by those who heard me.
The Shepherd: An Illustration of God’s Love
In John chapter 10, Jesus paints a beautiful picture for us of how much we are loved by God. In this chapter, Jesus compares himself to a shepherd and his people to sheep. That might not seem super complementary to us, but the way Jesus describes his shepherding shows how very much he loves us.
Jesus contrasts himself as the good shepherd with three groups of people: strangers, hired hands and thieves. Jesus says he’s not a stranger. His sheep know who he is and he knows his sheep. He’s also not a hired hand. He’s not paid to care for the sheep. The sheep belong to him and he is very concerned about their wellbeing. He’s also not a thief. He doesn’t come in over the wall trying to run off with the sheep in the middle of the night. Shepherds don’t want to harm the sheep or use them for their own gain. He cares for his sheep in an intimate way.
He also knows the sheep in an intimate way. If you’ve ever looked at sheep, they mostly look the same. There might be variations in their wool coloring, but for the most part, it’s hard to tell one sheep from another. A shepherd would spend so much time with the sheep he could recognize tiny differences between them. He could see a sheep and immediately call it by name. A shepherd didn’t clock in and clock out of his job as a shepherd. He was with his sheep all the time. The shepherd observed every move they made. He knew every detail about their lives.
God Is Our Shepherd
We might think that we don’t stand out in a crowd, and in some ways that might be true. However, God sees each and every one of us. He knows all the unique things about us, the little things that make us uniquely who we are. God loves those things about us. He created those things. He also sees every detail of our lives so he knows every tear that we’ve cried and every joke that we’ve laughed at. God sees us and he knows us: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Jesus also says that he willingly lays his life down for the sheep. No one forces him to die. He chooses to die for them. He knows everything about us, all of our flaws, sins, and shortcomings. Knowing all of that, he still chooses to lay down his life for us. Let that sink in for a second. God knows everything about you, everything that you think makes you unlovable and he still wants you so badly that he’s willing to sacrifice the most precious thing he has for you: his son. His son sacrifices willingly. He thinks you are worth it.
Living It Out
If God thinks that you are worth loving, that has some very real consequences for your life.
Give yourself grace.
The beauty of God’s love is that he loves us no matter what. He loves us before we know who he is. God loves us when we come towards him. He loves us even when we walk away from him. His love is always there. Give yourself permission to make mistakes and wrong turns, knowing that none of these change the way God feels about you. Allow yourself to accept the grace, the undeserved love that he offers you. Don’t think that you have to clean yourself up to be loved. You are loved just as you are.
Trust that God sees you and knows you, no matter what’s happening in your life.
It may not always feel like God loves you. Not every part of our lives is rainbows and sunshine. Sometimes we walk through dark valleys and deserts. However, we never walk alone. God is always there with us. He has lived as a human. God knows what it is like. He might not always take you out of an unpleasant place, but he promises to be with you wherever you are. Trust that he sees you and knows you and loves you, no matter what is going on around you.
Love gives us the confidence to be ourselves.
When we know we are loved, it gives us the confidence to do things we would be terrified to do otherwise. It gives us the confidence to be who we are. We don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. That doesn’t mean that hard things aren’t still scary or intimidating or that we’re always going to love who we are. It does mean that we know whether things go well or whether we utterly fail, we are still loved. Outcomes do not determine whether we are loved or not.
God has given us all talents and gifts and abilities that he wants us to use for his glory. Since we know we are loved, we should be able to use what God’s given us confidently. We don’t need to hide our gifts. We don’t need to worry about whether we are the best, we just need to use what God has given us in the situations and opportunities he’s given us, knowing that whether we fail or succeed, we are confident in God’s love.
Love gives us the confidence to love others.
If we know we are loved by God, we also know that what others think about us doesn’t determine how lovable we are. We can bravely put ourselves out there and love those around us. We can knock on a neighbor’s door or leave them a note. Their reaction doesn’t determine whether we are lovable or not. We can call a friend or a work acquaintance and we don’t have to be anxious about what they think of us. We know what God thinks about us and it is his opinion that ultimately matters.
Love is the one thing we can never run out of. The more we give, the more we’ve got. Bask in the love God has for you. Allow it to influence your life. Let it give you the confidence you need to love those around you.
Don’t let fear keep you from doing the things you were made to do. Recognize that God’s love gives you all the confidence you need to be uniquely you.
Photo by Nicole Wilcox on Unsplash